PROGRAMMABLE SYNCHRONOUS DC/DC
CONVERTER, DUAL LOW DROPOUT
REGULATOR CONTROLLER
© 1998 SEMTECH CORP.
August 25, 1998
652 MITCHELL ROA D NE WBURY PARK CA 91320
SC1182/3
10
COMPONENT SELECTION
SWITCHING SECTION
OUTPUT CAPACITORS - Selection begins with the
most cri tical component. Because of fast transient load
current requi r ements in modern microprocessor core
supplies, the output capacitors must supply al l transient
load current r equirements until the current in the output
inductor ramps up to the new level. Output capacitor
ESR is therefore one of the most important criteria. The
maximum ESR can be simply calculat ed from:
step current Transient I
excursion voltage transient MaximumV
Where
I
V
R
t
t
t
t
ESR
=
=
≤
Each Capacitor Total
Technology C
(µF)
ESR
(mΩ)
Qty.
Rqd.C(µF)
ESR
(mΩ)
Low ESR Tantalum 330 60 6 2000 10
OS-CON 330 25 3 990 8.3
Low ESR Aluminum 1500 44 5 7500 8.8
()
OIN
t
ESR
VV
I
CR
L
−≤
OSC
IN
L
fL4
V
I
RIPPLE
⋅⋅
=
IN
O
)on(DS
2
OCOND
V
V
cycleduty =
where
RIP
≈δ
δ⋅⋅=
2
INOSW
10VIP
−
⋅⋅=
4
f)tt(VI
P
OSCfrINO
SW
⋅+⋅⋅
=
OSCINRRRR
fVQP
⋅⋅=
For example, to meet a 100mV transient li mit with a
10A load step, the output capacitor ESR must be less
than 10mΩ. To meet this kind of ESR level, t her e ar e
three available capacitor technologies.
The choice of which to use is simply a cost/performance issue, with Low ESR Aluminum bei ng the
cheapest, but taking up the most space.
INDUCTOR - Having decided on a suitable type and
value of output capacitor, the maximum allowable
value of inductor can be calculated. Too lar ge an inductor will produce a slow current ramp rate and will
cause the output capacitor to supply more of the transient load curr ent for longer - leading to an output voltage sag below the ESR excursi on c alculated above.
The maximum induc tor value m ay be c alculated from:
The calculated maximum inductor value assumes 100%
duty cycle, so some allowance must be made. Choosing
an inductor value of 50 to 75% of the calculat ed maximum will guarantee that the inductor c ur r ent will ramp
fast enough to reduc e the voltage dropped acr oss the
ESR at a f aster r ate than the capacitor sags, hence ensuring a good recovery from t r ansi ent with no additional
excursions.
We must also be concerned with rippl e c ur r ent in the
output inductor and a general rule of thumb has been to
allow 10% of maximum output current as rippl e c ur r ent.
Note that most of the output voltage ripple is produced
by the induct or r ipple current flowing in the output capacitor ES R. Ripple current can be calculated from:
Ripple current allowance will define the minimum permit ted inductor value.
POWER FETS - The FETs are chosen based on several cri teria with probably the most important being
power dissipation and power handli ng c apability.
TOP FET - The power dissipation in the t op FET is a
combination of conducti on losses, switching l osses and
bottom FET body diode recovery losses.
a) Conduction losses are simply c alculated as:
b) Switching losses can be estimated by assuming a
switching ti me, if we assume 100ns then:
or more generally,
c) Body diode rec overy losses are more difficult to estimate, but to a first approximation, it is reasonable to assume that the stor ed c har ge on the bottom FET body
diode will be moved through the top FET as it start s to
turn on. The resul ting power dissipation in the t op FET
will be:
To a first order approxim ation, it is convenient to only
consider conduction losses to determine FET suitability.
For a 5V in; 2.8V out at 14.2A requirement, typical FET
losses would be: